A chance for further CAP reform

This policy brief argues that the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy which Commissioner Fischler began over a decade ago must now be completed. Single farm payments should be phased out, and more money spent on rural development, particularly in newer member-states. Environmental protection should be achieved through regulation rather than financial incentives. And the European Commission should spend more money on research into reducing agriculture's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, and into enabling agriculture to adapt to the now-unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Christopher Haskins is a former chairman of Northern Foods, and a member of the CER advisory board.